‘The SOUTHAMPTON and SALISBURY CANAL passed through a tunnel just to the left of here…almost under your feet’
Kingsbridge Lane with Civic Centre and Clocktower. Image: Massie Wilson
‘Can you see Southampton’s 1930s CIVIC CENTRE? The Clock Tower, Kimber’s Chimney, reaches 156 feet in height…’
Text – white granite inset into contrasting black granite.
Kingsbridge Lane in Southampton is a historically important and longstanding pedestrian-only route with no vehicular access. This makes the site significant to Southampton. It is a long surviving link to the western route in and out of Southampton along the coastal strand, which formed the northern shore of the River Test Estuary until the early 20thCentury. The footpath runs along a narrow strip of land between the existing railway tunnel and the historic and long abandoned tunnel of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal, which ran along what is now Blechynden Terrace, linking Central Station to the Guildhall Square &Cultural Quarter. My role within this project was to develop a contextual response to the site, which would, hopefully, influence the landscape design and regenerative design process in collaboration Simon Taylor of Balfour Beatty Living Places , Southampton City Council and Hardscape.
Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie WilsonKingsbridge Lane, Southampton. 14 lines of text – Image: Balfour Beatty
‘SOUTHAMPTON is a Sea City on the SOLENT …with and unusual Double High Tide’.
Text – white granite inset into contrasting black granite.
Aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
‘Oh when the SAINTS go marching in …I want to be in that number… oh when the Saints go marching in…’
Nighttime aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
‘In 2017 over 6 million passengers used Southampton CENTRAL STATION’
Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Nighttime view. Image: Massie Wilson
‘SOUTHAMPTON is a Sea City on the SOLENT …with and unusual Double High Tide’.
Basalt Slabs with inset text at Hardscape for Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Christopher Tipping
Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
‘Jane Austen lived in Southampton from 1806 to 1809 … her house on Castle Square had a wonderful garden that hugged the old city walls’
Kingsbridge Lane, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
The granite seating and retaining walls by Hardscape are undercut along the front edge suggesting the movement of water throughout the site.
‘The MAYFLOWER set sail from SOUTHAMPTON across the Atlantic to America in 1620′
Aerial view of Kingsbridge Lane at the junction with Blechynden Terrace and West Park Rd, Southampton. Image: Massie Wilson
In December 2008 I was commissioned, along with a number of other artists, to respond to the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project, which was nearing completion after a 10 year ambitious and ground-breaking engineering-led programme.
The Combe Down Stone Mines Project was a major project undertaken by Bath & North East Somerset Council to stabilise abandoned limestone mine workings in the village of Combe Down and preserve the Health & Safety of the area. The aim of the Project was to remove the current threat to life and property of those living, working in and travelling through the Combe Down area. Collapse of the old mines, which in some instances, lay just metres beneath the surface, was a real possibility. In doing this, the Project ensured that the internationally recognised heritage, wildlife and environmental properties of the area were conserved for future generations.
The Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project was finally completed in 2010, with 25 hectares of very shallow limestone mines flooded with approximately 600,000 cubic metres of foamed concrete, the largest project of its kind in the world. Over the preceding 200 years some 700 houses had been built over the mines from which the stone was extracted to build Georgian Bath.
The project site of Combe Down, a village on the outskirts of Bath, falls within the World Heritage Site of Bath.
Publicity draft invitation to The Octagon installation and artist talk. Image: Christopher Tipping
The arts project team was managed and led by Art Consultants Frances Lordand Steve Geliot.“To celebrate the end of the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) granted £250K funding for commissioning public art. The Combe Down Public Art Project was the result of two years of activity, events, residencies and commissions”. Frances Lord
Combe Down Stone Mines. Early test samples of Bone China Plates with Combe Down artwork. Image: Christopher Tipping
Combe Down Stone Mines. Early test samples of Bone China Plates with Combe Down artwork. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft design for the ceramic transfer back stamp applied to the bone china plates. Image: Sarah Alldritt
A 21st Century Miner greeting a 19th Century Stone Miner. Archaeologists found a single bone of the Hare whilst excavating & recording the stone mines – ‘probably someone’s lunch!’. The leek represents the 21st Century mine workers who mostly came from South Wales.
‘1479 plates’ installation at The Octagon, Bath, 2009. Image: Kevin Fern
Exterior of The Octagon, Bath
A selection of images from the Combe Down Stone MInes Project. Image: Christopher Tipping
Postcard invitation to The Octagon installation and artist talk. Image: Christopher Tipping
‘1479 plates’ at The Octagon, Bath. November 2009
Invitation to collect your bone china plate following the exhibition and project completion. Image: Christopher Tipping
One of 788 Bone China plates produced for the installation.
‘1479 plates’, The Octagon, Bath. Private View. Image by ZED.
The installation work ‘1479 plates’, was exhibited at The Octagon, an 18th Century Chapel in Bath, and featured a map of 788 bone china dinner plates , which explores the relationship between present day engineering and mining technology, stone mines heritage, archaeology, natural history, and two 18th Century entrepreneurs of the English Enlightenment, Ralph Allen and Josiah Wedgwood. The work was created in collaboration with ‘Autonomatic’ – 3D Digital Research Cluster at University College Falmouth. The plates were displayed on a curving monolithic wall, redolent of the architectural terraces in Bath, built with the stone from the mines. The exhibition was constructed and managed by REM, Richmond Event Management.
The local community was widely consulted and was from the outset a supportive and creative project champions group, attending meetings and contributing significantly to the outcome of the works. I often stayed with local families, which was a very engaging way of collaborating away from the formal meetings and group sessions.
The image above is an A0 size print made to commemorate the project which has the names of all the Miners employed by Hydrock who worked on and contributed to the Combe Down Stone Mines Stabilisation Project. Printed by Digital Arte.
Portraits of Hydrock Miners working on the Combe Down project. Image: Christopher Tipping
A proposal to print a limited edition of artworks to commemorate the project. Image: Christopher Tipping
A sample collection of plates from the 788 individual units, which made up the installation. Image: Portia Wilson
691 households affected by the stabilisation works were gifted a ceramic plate – one small part of the map – representing not only the individual household but the mining underworld beneath it. Following their display at The Octagon, the original 788 dinner plates were donated to form a large scale permanent installation in Combe Down village at some point in the future.
Publicity about the Combe Down project. Bath Chronicle, July 9th 2009. Image: Combe Down Project Office
A Celebration Poster design by Peter Brawne for the major community event, which saw the completion of the project. Image: Peter Brawne
